Insects and Facial Paint
by Sheamaru
Summary: It's ridiculous to think that any insect would be attracted to something as silly as facial paint isn't it? [Kankuro x Shino]


He really didn't like bugs.

He wasn't sure _why _he just didn't like them. When he was a kid he thought they were pretty cool, like any other little boy. They stopped being as fun when Temari stopped being afraid of them. But that didn't mean he was afraid of them. But over time they just sort of lost his interest and became another part of life. Something that blended in with the surroundings. He had one really bad experience with a bug when he was about ten or eleven that was probably where his dislike of them started. Bugs were bugs right? Well this bug was out to get him.

He wasn't even sure what it was, it was some huge-ass spiny thing and he found it in his bed. It wouldn't have been so bad if he was awake when he found it. Like maybe he had seen it before crawling into bed and could shoo it out the window or something before he went to sleep. Maybe even stick it in Temari's bed to freak her out, but no, he wasn't that lucky. He fell asleep and apparently the damn thing flew through the window in the middle of the night. He didn't ask for the stupid thing to go into his bed and he was SLEEPING so he was hardly worried about scaring it or threatening it or anything. It bit him in the middle of the night near his right ankle and it sent him jolt awake.

That was one of the few times he had screamed bloody murder.

It was found out at that instant that he wasn't going to die, and was an idiot for waking up nearly the entire compound. How was he supposed to know it wasn't going to kill him? There were some _very _fatal bugs out there, and that could have been one of them. It wasn't like part of his ninja training was to study each and every kind of bug; that was more of a hobby thing. Even though it wasn't fatal, his ankle still swelled up for the rest of the night and half the next day. It throbbed and hurt but he had to train on it anyway. Thank god he was learning to become a puppet master; it didn't entitle too much moving around.

So, that was his worst bug experience and the rest of his life he went on just not liking bugs. He didn't go out of his way to squish them or anything and he didn't freak out when he saw them. He just didn't _like _them. He didn't like them buzzing around his face, he didn't like them crawling on surfaces near him, and he _really _didn't like them crawling on _him_. Aside from the fact it was comfortable and looked cool, it could have been one of the reasons he wore the clothes he did. Fewer bugs were likely to get on his skin and, at the very least, anywhere that really bothered him. Hands and feet were cool, it wasn't that big a deal, but his legs or arms or body? Hell. No.

Well, alright, not the rest of his life was spent just disliking bugs. It might have been if it weren't for the stupid Chunin exams. He had to admit it was a little freaky to see someone use bugs the way Shino Aburame managed to use them, but it didn't scare him too much. After all, they were just bugs right? Creepy, crawly, little chakra devouring bugs. Okay. So maybe they weren't _just _bugs. But there wasn't any reason to worry about them because he had his own methods of fighting and he'd have been able to take Shino out before a single one of those things managed to touch his skin. And even better was that he got away with forfeiting his match; don't get him wrong, it wasn't because of the bugs that he forfeited. He didn't want to show off his other skills, there had to be some surprises right? Only a stupid ninja gave away all his techniques right off the get-go, and considering they were there for a mission that would be even more idiotic.

The mission, right, now that's where the bugs came in. When he told Temari to scram with Gaara until he woke up, he thought he'd be fighting the Uchiha. No big deal, sure the guy was strong but he was a distance fighter anyway so if he managed to just keep his distance it was fine. Besides, no one in Konoha was anything really special, not compared to Sand Village standards at least. There were a few who stood out, sure, take that Lee guy for instance. Weird looking, but one hell of a ninja for a guy who didn't use anything but taijutsu.

But he digressed; the point was he didn't end up fighting Uchiha. No, of all the people to show up it was the Bug Guy. Apparently he followed by some weird method of scent, attaching a female bug to the Uchiha's clothes and then using the male to trail behind. Whatever. The point was he ended up having to fight the Bug Guy. No big deal, he'd just stick to the previous method, distance fighting. Keep the bugs away, after all, the things went in swarms right? He'd have to be a complete idiot to miss seeing that and Kankuro was certainly no idiot. Far from it, puppeteers had to be smart; it was part of the criteria, especially considering you had to coordinate your hands and everything to do it properly. So he wasn't stupid, but he had completely missed the fact that a fake-out punch could have been used to use the SAME method of tracking HIM as it had been on the Uchiha.

So, yeah, he lost. But not only that, he was completely covered in bugs. Disgusting, gross, chakra-eating, creepy, crawly, swarming...bugs. He screamed again, not the same kind of scream at it had been all those years ago, but oh that wasn't a pleasant feeling. And then he fell off the tree and they were STILL crawling around him and he couldn't get them off because for every _one _he squished, fifteen more were crawling all over him. He wasn't exactly counting seconds, but he knew it was ages before he finally got those things off of him. Chakra depleted and skin crawling; all he wanted was a shower and plastic, bug-free bubble.

From that point on he _hated _bugs. They freaked him out to a whole new level and he had to find new methods of hiding it. Seeing them didn't make him scream, but he tensed up and went rigid. It messed with his head when they got back to the village, something that wasn't appreciated amongst his team or anyone else that managed to be around him. Though, those people were few and far between anyway as he was just a little distant, he still lived with his brother and sister. They noticed, usually just Temari said something, Gaara would mutter things like 'idiot' under his breath.

He was positive he would have been just fine if he never saw Shino Aburame again. After all, it would wear off as long as he kept up with his mostly bug-free life. Who knew? Maybe he'd even grow to just disliking the little things again. Unfortunately, he couldn't claim to be that lucky.

A few months after the defeat at Konoha, they were going back for a visit. The people there could have done a lot worse then they did, but they didn't. That put the Sunagakure in a form of debt which could be helped out in few ways, considering the fact that the Leaf Village was pretty much conflict free in terms of wars. Though if they ever did manage to get in any trouble, the Sand Village would be right there with an army of deadly ninja to help. The reason they were returning was just to keep relations from souring too fast, after all, that wouldn't be fun considering the work put into making them stable again. And with his brother as the new Kazekage...well, things had just changed.

Gaara was a visiting Kage, so they didn't have to worry about an inn. It was arranged for them before arrival and while they did have duties, much of the time was spent being on their own. Temari went to be with Shikamaru most of the time. Since their fight, she really hadn't been able to fully shut up about the guy and once, when he was getting something to eat after curfew, he swore he heard her mumble his name in her sleep when he passed her room. So, whatever, Gaara went to visit Lee at the hospital, talk with Naruto, and deal with the more official stuff that came with being a Kage.

Great, because Konoha was really the place Kankuro wanted to wander around. Last he knew, when he left here he still wasn't that appreciated of a guy. Shino had, in fact, been poisoned by Karasu (a fact he couldn't help but be prided on) and was recovering. Months had passed and he was seriously starting to wonder if the guy had lived or keeled over when he saw him exiting a forest he had been passing on his way to find something to eat. As usual, he looked as withdrawn and freaky as ever, thankfully he was bug free though which was a relief.

The most Kankuro had spared was a glance and an acknowledgment only to himself that the guy was still alive. After all, it wasn't like he owed him any apology or anything, it had been a fight. You don't exactly apologize for hurting someone when it was a fight and he was out to hurt you to. At the thought of it though, he shivered, swearing he could feel the bugs crawling over his skin again. His fingers twitched in his pockets, wanting to remove themselves to at least scratch at his arm a little, but he forced them still and kept walking. Either because both of them were focused on avoiding the other or by complete mistake, they ended up colliding only a few steps from where Kankuro had spotted him. It hardly seemed common for two decent ninja to literally run into each other, which meant they were either extremely not paying attention or it had happened intentionally on someone's part.

And Kankuro could honestly claim his part was guilt-free.

"Watch it," he growled, lifting his dark green eyes up, though only enough so he could still look down to the brown rather wild forest of hair. Man, and he thought his hair was bad, Shino's seemed even worse. But somehow, he couldn't help but notice the complimenting factor it had. It was a nice look for him, considering those annoying glasses he wore all the time. Perfect circles to eclipse whatever eye color was behind them, who wore glasses like that all the time?

Shino didn't respond, being of few words anyway, merely grunted slightly and took a step back to move around the elder ninja. Kankuro didn't move, he held his ground decently, though even the slightest amount of contact freaked him out and made his skin tingle even more. Bugs, man, bugs. He waited until the other was decently out of sight before giving a strong shiver and continuing to walk. The skin crawling feeling he got now rivaled the one he used to get from Gaara. If it wasn't one freaky thing, it was another.

The quest to find something to eat was completed easily enough; he even managed to find his favorite food – hamburgers, which was rather nice to have after the previous freak out. With Karasu slung over his shoulder and his stomach full, he judged it was too early to go back to the inn. There wouldn't be anything on television and he wasn't tired, even after eating, though maybe he could find a decent spot to be by himself so he could work on installing some of the newer mechanics in his puppet. Painted lips curving into a pleased smile, he turned to head back to the room to grab his small bag of tools and other mechanics then set out for one of the sections of forest. The light was decent enough that he didn't worry about being out too long as he slipped off the bandages and opened the puppet's chest cabinet. Inside an entire array and mess of cogs, screws, nuts, bolts, and other metal things gleamed up at him in the light. He quickly set to work with the changes of things, wiping his greased hands on a black cloth over his shoulder when they got a little too slick to work with.

He was well into the organs of his doll when he felt something crawl on his leg. Swatting at whatever it was with his cloth, without even looking, he continued to work. When he felt it again, his painted brows furrowed and his finger slipped on one of the inner cogs, slicing it open. Cursing he drew his hand back and wiped it on the cloth, attempting to find a cleaner spot so he didn't end up smearing grease into it. Once the surrounding skin was clean, he put the injured part of his finger into his mouth and turned to swat a bit more at what was crawling on his leg, upon his green eyes falling onto exactly what it was, his entire body went rigid.

"_Get off!_" he shouted as he fell back a little more fully and began brushing at the bugs crawling up his right leg, the sight freaking him out even more. He was glad, but a tad too frantic to be thankful, to see that they weren't a single black swarm and just a few black specks on the skin exposed on his leg between his pants and his sandals. But black specks or swarming aside, it was a decent amount of bugs crawling up his legs in their creepy, skin-tingling way. Unlike how some people fell down and scrambled backwards then moved to scramble upwards, he mostly just scrambled upwards and fell back against a tree as he pulled his leg up to get the bugs off. Squished and smeared or knocked off, he didn't care, he wanted them gone.

A few seconds after he got to his feet and seriously started fidgeting, many of the bugs started crawling back down, dropping to the ground and scurrying off in whatever direction they wanted. Kankuro really didn't care; he stayed still leaned against the tree, his hands behind him slightly so his fingertips picked at the bark a little. He kept his head tilted back against the tree with his painted eyes closed for a moment, catching his breath, exhaling a soft, "I hate bugs."

"Most people are just jumpy about bugs after a fight with me," came the rather deep but still toneless reply as the one and only Shino Aburame stepped from his forested hiding place. Dark green eyes opened as he looked to the younger male, they echoed his surprised but immediately narrowed. In his dismay about the bugs, he had completely forgotten where they could have come from, let alone thinking to sense anyone else, "But you're throughly _afraid_."

"Shut up," the Sand-nin snapped in reply as he pushed himself away from the tree, his anger _thoroughly _managing to make him more quickly catch his breath. His eyes stayed on Shino as he moved towards his puppet again, not pleased with the idea of it being incapable of use while Shino, of all people, had decided to show up, "I just wasn't expecting it."

"So it'd be better if you were?" Shino questioned and no sooner had the words left his mouth then he made it evident then that those nasty little things had been crawling all over Kankuro's puppet. His hand in mid-reach, he drew it back rather quickly and swayed his weight back onto the foot he had been about to lift into a step, his body tensing and swallowing nervously. He fisted his hand and frowned again before turning towards Shino a bit more fully, dropping his hands to his sides, "One should always have a trump card."

"Alright, Bug Freak, what do you want?" he remarked, his voice cold but also heated with anger. He didn't come here to be threatened by someone when he wasn't supposed to fight back. Hell, Konoha-nin weren't suppose to start anything either. If he wasn't worried that leaving Karasu here would result in its complete dismantlement (or discovery of how he worked), he might have just darted now. But with the sound of those bugs crawling all over his precious puppet, no way was he leaving him behind.

The only response for a moment was a chuckle, and then the teenager reaching up to adjust his glasses, tilting his head down to do so. When he lifted it again, his face some how seemed slightly different; though because of the large collar it was hard to tell much. Not to mention the glasses, god, did the guy have self-esteem issues or something to hide behind all those clothes? Though Kankuro could hardly dismiss that he did have a slightly attractive and appealing quality, what with the distant, hiding look. But still, points were taken off for the fact he was holding Karasu semi-hostage.

"I'm looking for a certain bug that may be attracted to your face," he replied, his voice smooth, brows furrowing a little to show he was completely serious about the situation. Kankuro, however, had not followed that at all, and was on the verge of laughing out loud considering how utterly ridiculous that sounded. He wanted to find bugs that may have been attracted to his face? What was so special about his face? He opened his mouth to shoot some snide remark back but Shino had beaten him to the conclusion, "More accurately, your facial paint."

A few things shot through his mind at that information, and all of them attempted to wrestle themselves to the front of his mind so they could spill from his mouth when he didn't think about how he wanted to and should have responded to that. The first of which, was some strange feeling that resembled offense. But that was stupid considering he didn't want bugs to be attracted to his face anyway. He hated them on his body, arms, and legs, the last place he wanted them was his face. The second was maybe he had been indirectly offended by the fact that resembled an insult, but why should he care what Shino thought of how he looked? He was the last person Kankuro wanted anything to do with! The third was that it was ridiculous that bugs would be attracted to his facial paint, and the fourth was that this entire thing was stupid.

"My...facial paint?" was the thing that managed to beat all the others out to leaving his purple hued lips. Shino replied with a simple nod, because of the glasses it was hard to tell exactly where he was looking. He was facing Kankuro, but for all he knew he was looking over his shoulder or...hell, even checking him out. That thought made him feel a_ tad _awkward so he decided to abandon it before the other disappointed thoughts could surround it like sharks and make him blurt something else.

"The scents in your facial paint would probably help to attract the females of the species and that would attract the males so I could take a few for my collection." Great, the female to male bug logic again; as if he wasn't weirded out enough by the fact he had bugs crawling up his leg a few minutes ago. Now what? He had to have them crawling on his face? That was _not _what he wanted to hear right now.

"If you think I'm going to let some bugs crawl over my face for your stupid collection, you're more of a freak then you seem," he shot back, crossing his arms in a way that typically got conversations ended. He looked at Karasu again only to find that the bugs had over taken the puppet even more and were now exploring his joints and the inner workings, "Get your bugs out of my puppet!"

"I will if you agree to help me," the other retorted, unmoving from his spot. It was freaky how he could stand there completely still and calm, unmoving, like a rock or something. Kankuro fisted his hands and turned to glare at Shino again, opening his mouth to snap back the same answer, but once again Shino beat him to the chase, "They don't have to crawl on your face, you just have to lure a few so I can talk to them."

_Caught between a freak and a swarm of disgusting bugs_, Kankuro feared his lack of choices in the matter. He could have refused, left Karasu here with the bugs and Shino while he went to, basically, tattle-tale on Shino. Or he could agree to help the guy with his stupid bugs, get his puppet back, and no one had to be the wiser. It was obvious the more intelligent choice...but he really, _really, really_ didn't want bugs crawling on his face.

"If a single bug touches my face, you're dead," he growled before moving forward towards Karasu. Hey, he agreed, and sure enough the bugs pulled back. He could have just closed the puppet up and attacked, but it was just stupid by this point considering the huge amount of insects already surrounding him. He closed and latched the compartment, then wrapped the puppet up in his bandages again before slinging him and the tool pouch over his shoulder again. Shino waited silently and patiently and when Kankuro was finished he turned to head for where the largest swarm should have been. Kankuro followed silently; debating if he could stab the other with a poison needle before he managed one of those replacement jutsu.


End file.
